Various apparatuses have been developed to convert a web of a given material to individual sheets. Converting extremely thin web structures on the order of a thousandth of an inch thick renders conventional converting processes generally unworkable for such applications. One particular structure of interest in the construction of fuel cells is the thin membrane of the fuel cell. An apparatus for converting a membrane web must be capable of handling and cutting very thin, two-sided membrane structures of the web and, once cut, properly aligning the membrane sheets for downstream processing. Disrupting the positioning of the membrane sheets at a particular process station can result in damage to the membrane sheets or the fuel cell structures that incorporate such membrane sheets. Disturbing membrane sheet orientation is also likely to result in reduced product throughput, which negatively affects the productivity of the automated fuel cell assembly line.
It is often desirable to automate, either partially or completely, a number of web converting processes. Many conventional web converting apparatuses and methods are not well suited for a high degree of automation, particularly converting processes which have tight positional tolerance requirements.
There is a need for improved web converting apparatuses and methodologies. There is a further need for such apparatuses and methodologies that can safely and precisely convert a web of very thin web structures to individual sheets in an automated assembly environment, such as in an automated fuel cell assembly plant. The present invention fulfills these and other needs.